I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to kitchen appliances and more particularly to a stand for a beverage brewer of the type using single cup cartridges and that facilitates movement of the stand and beverage brewer on a countertop and which provides a drawer for storage of a supply of beverage cartridges.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
A currently popular kitchen appliance is a single-cup beverage brewer made by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. and marketed under the Keurig brand. It utilizes small, single-use, disposable beverage cartridges called K-Cups® which, when inserted into the brewer, become punctured so that a stream of water may pass through it and into a drinking cup.
In order to insert a cartridge into the brewer, it is necessary to lift a handle on the brewer to expose a chamber in which the cartridge is inserted. When the brewer is placed on a kitchen counter beneath overhead cabinets, there is often not sufficient overhead clearance to permit the brewer's lever to be lifted. This necessitates sliding the brewer forward on the countertop to bring it out from under the overhead cabinet. Care must be exercised in doing so to prevent the brewer from passing over the front edge of the countertop and falling to the floor.
A supply of beverage cartridges should be located proximate the brewer for the sake of convenience. The prior art includes carousel devices having a stacked arrangement of rings designed to hold beverage cartridges. Also, portable drawers of a size to fit atop a kitchen counter have been designed for storing such beverage cartridges. In this regard, reference is made to U.S. Design Patents D691,858, D680,380 and D686,464 owned by applicants' assignee, Nifty Home Products, Inc. of Madison Lake, Minn. These drawer devices are designed so that a beverage brewer may be placed on its top surface, but this makes it somewhat awkward to move the combination brewer and drawer from beneath an overhead cabinet.
A need therefore exists for a beverage cartridge storage drawer that is easy to move and that affords added safety to prevent accidental movement of the storage drawer and brewer beyond the edge of a countertop.